Teaching Life Drawing has led to my fascination with the figure. I work from two to three hour drawings done from life.    Part of the challenge I'm attracted to is the process of finishing the figure to a greater extent than was provided by the information contained in the original image.  The rest of the challenge is in using the figure in such a way that something new might be said through the use of a several century old motif.  My goal is a surface activated by the opposing forces of line and form, transparency and solidity, color and its obliteration, while trying to convey something of the character of models who posed for the work.